Welcoming New Year 2015 in Nepal

31st Dec-3rd Jan 2015

The new year 2015 has long since passed, but only today that I managed to write something about our recent trip to Nepal. I blame it to my severe addiction to watching Running Man nowadays. Tee hee..

 

When we arrived at the international airport,  the surrounding was crowded with many Nepali men. It was quite hard to see female Nepali around, unlike other places we went before.And seeing them who mostly were wearing dark jackets made the sight was a bit gloomy in my eyes.  It was almost the same sight when we were waiting for boarding in departure hall back in KL.  The hall felt like a gloomy place with mostly Nepali men in it wearing dark outfit. Nevermind, we wasted no time and headed straight to our first lodging at Nagarkot.

If you are wondering which part of Nepal that a Must-go, Nagarkot is certainly one of them. Apart from its location that is quite close to Kathmandu, for a short trip, we still can enjoy the sunset and sunrise at the Himalaya Range.

Just perfect to suite the guest's expectation, most of the lodging in Nagarkot hillside has their own roof top overlooking the Himalaya range. So we went up there to get the best spot to capture the sunset moment. Seriously I never put my eyes on something as picturesque as the scenery  here.

In the morning, we woke up in the wee hour of the morning to ensure that all of us are ready to wait the sun rises at the roof top again. plus, we need to secure a good spot before other guests joined in. The wind was cold , that we waited in shiver to see the beautiful sunrise showed.

And certainly our patience were worthwhile. Ooohhhh...prettyyy..

On the way to Kathmandu from Nagarkot, we stopped by at another attraction, Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

There are a few durbar squares around Kathmandu city, and this is the one that must-visit when you are in Nepal. This is one of the UNESCO Heritage site where ancient palace is located.

We spent two good hours for a full course guided tour around the place, when our feets started to wobble as soon as we handed the tips to our guide at the end of the tour.

It was when we went to the remote part of the square, I was awed upon seeing very huge cow at one side of their worshiping area . And that's not it, when I turned to other side of their so-called sacred area, an old woman was seen spreading the cow discharge with her bare hand. oh man!! That was too much, I was thinking we were in a very ancient age. But it still exists now. Huhu.

 

Some experiences with nepali people,  we found that they can easily recognized us as not indon or philipino, but malaysian!Yes, I could feel the pride glow when our country received that kind of acknowledge here.

They like malaysian people, so we can easily get connected with them, consequently the bargaining process became easier. Some of nepali guys look like chinese, perhaps coming from tibetan origin , while some of them, we might mistaken as Tamil, or hindustani.

The weather in December is nice, cold but not snowy. I love  that part of the country. The road is badly paved here and there, thus made our journey a lot bumpier than ever. Nonetheless, having brought up in hardship, I found that they are skillful driver in the massive traffic jam, and close to scary to death ,sometimes. Huhuh

We arrived and checked ourselves into Hotel Nepalaya , get refreshed, and went for shopping afterwards. The market is just a few minutes away, in Thamel road.  Apart from it, we spent the remaining hours in daylight navigating the city area ,and found  another Durbar Square. But we have had enough with previous durbar square tour experience, snapped a few wefies, and we were off to the next attraction.

On the following day , the next attraction we went was Swayambunath stupa which is also known as monkey temple. And as its named after, the ancient temple which is situated on top of a hill was fulled with monkeys.

Apparently these monkeys also have some sort of "abang long kawasan" , whereby we grabbed the chance to watch them fighting and scratching each other till  bleeding to rebut kawasan and perhaps, to get the attention from female monkey. Scary..

We also went to Boudhanath stupa, but most of the time there,we enjoyed doing the shopping there. The selection is vast, and I loved it!

The local tibetan was seen moving the tin,  symbolizes Tibetan prayer everytime they passed this fence. And we run to the fence to pose, as always...

Shopping for souvenir and being the first customer of the day, we got a handsome bargain. Yippi~~

On the last night in Kathmandu, we were having our dinner at fine halal restaurant in Annapurna road, even though it took forever to wait for our meal to ready. Fuhh~

Capati was our main meal throughout the trip. Indeed, the authentic taste with dhal will never match the best capati in Malaysia that I ever had. But on the last meal before depart, we opted spicy yet fulfilling beriani for our brunch. Heaven.. Alhamdulillah..

Peaceful Cottage & Cafe Du Mont,Nagarkot & Hotel Nepalaya,Kathmandu , Nepal

If you plan to enjoy sunset and sunrise scenery at Nagarkot, Peaceful Cottage & Cafe Du Mont  is just almost perfect accommodation to go for. 

It is located at the hillside facing to the Himalayan range. Reaching to the top of the hill was another adventure ride, thank God we have an expert local driver to maneuver the hill side and bumpy route.

There is nothing extravagant reception that you can expect in this premise, but the warm smile and service received from the hotel staff were good enough for make ourselves comfortable.

We dumped our luggage in the room and took no time to rush to the roof top of the building. It was about time to see the sun set.  Did I tell you how awestruck we felt upon seeing the scenery? Wait till the next entry comes out. He he.

But one thing that was not  so pleasant to bear on the night time was the cooooold night like we were sleeping in a roofless house on the icy floor.  The heater was not provided,with only a hot pouch  to give our feet some warmth, with considerably thick but-still cold blanket, we went through the chilly night with sound sleep.

 

The room is clean, and so is the bathroom. All necessary amenities are provided, including towels. And the water heater is also provided, aaahhh,, heaven.

In Kathmandu, we chose to stay at Hotel Nepalaya. It is located very strategically at the center of Kathmandu city, Thamel road. Which means it is just a few walks away from their popular market. Yes, good bargain means good shopping. Wink!

The stay comes with breakfast, and I learnt a good  recipe to bring home, cornflower fried with egg. Yumm~Seriously, you might want to give it a try yourself.

The room is clean and its hygiene level is satisfactory.  The flip side of the stay in Nepal is that the intermittent electric supply which has caused us to sleep in cold for a few hours and got the heater on the next. Nothing much that they hotel can do to satisfy us, despite our complaint, as it is due to the government policy of on the electricity supply. Anyway, despite the minor hiccup, it is still a good place to stay.

Baking Pavlova: Lessons to learn

It feels like it has been quite a while that I didn't do any baking. The idea to try baking a pavlova was triggered when I saw the pics in facebook, that made me drool upon seeing it.

I imitated the recipe from joyofbaking website, and yes , the ingredients are easy to find in the market. I'm not going through the details of the process , but along the process, I learned a few lessons in order to  bake the meringue successfully, and rather, it was interesting learning process!

The lessons were:

1) all 4 eggs that are beaten should be baked at once, as I tried to divide the meringue into two portions, but it has ended up that the second portion slowly dissolved. plus , my first meringue became really thin and it was less drooling. huhu
2)  use as low temp at 100 degree c all the way. This helped greatly to avoid the meringue from being overbaked.
3) as for whip cream, do not mix  sugar and other ingredient when you first beat the whip cream. It turns to buttery form. Huwaaaaa~

 

Nonetheless , no matter how ugly it looked -my ugly pavlova,  my sibling love it that it has finished at one go. But in order to get the right-almost -perfect look pavlova, I bake my second attempt on the following day. This time I used the whip cream spray, easier and faster . And it turned out the second try looked wayyyy better . So , with that satisfaction, I can rest from any baking activity for another one or two months later. hihih

Shangri- La Putrajaya

I got another chance to explore luxury hotels in Putrajaya recently, so I chose to stay at Shangri La Putrajaya.

The location is a bit isolated from the hectic roads in Putrajaya. Situated on top of the hill, next to a palace, this business trip felt like a holiday.

The room has luxury of space in bedroom and even we can use valet parking at the front door to park our car. How cool is that.

This is rare,surely. 

Another thing I like about staying here is that they offer variety of breakfast choices, that I could sit there for hours savoring the delicacies. Ah well, for my case, I need to be there as early as 7 to eat to ensure that  I could reach my training class punctually, no?

Twins of Faith 2014 : World of the Unseen

13th- 14th Dec2014

I've heard about this islamic conference since last year.  But only one year later,  the interest and curiosity of the conference crept in my mind..and so, I purchased the ticket!

Apart from lecture mode at the main auditorium, there was also workshops conducted concurrently at the other side of the complex.

So it went back to us to choose which speaker and topics that interest us more to listen. This annual conference lined up speakers from various countries across the globe. Therefore, the experiences when listening to these speakers were fantastic.

 

 

So here are some of key messages that I managed to jot down from the 2-day conference.

The signs of Allah by Sheikh Daood Butt

1) When you remember Him, your heart will shiver
2)We love Allah swt because he is the One that blesses us
3) We pray for Allah swt for His Blessings
4) We dont use His Blessings to displease Him

Important pillar in believing Qadr by Sheikh Muizz Bukhary

1)Allah swt knows everything i.e past, present, future
2)Believe that everything has been written that is 50,000 years before creation of heaven
3)Bring in our heart ; When Allah swt will someone to be guided, he will be guided BUT when Allah swt will him to lead astray, no one will be able to guide him. We have the free will, but Allah swt ALWAYS knows what option you going to choose.
4)Allah swt created every single thing. Our decision is the creation of Allah swt.


Duaa between the Seen and the Unseen - Dr Jamaan Al Zahrani

It was narrated that Rasulullah saw has said :
"There is no duaa of a muslim without response but:
1) Allah swt keep it from you to hereafter
2)Allah swt avoid from bad things happen to you."

Aisyah r.a said she knows Allah swt answers her duaa when she duaa with tears.

6 adab when make duaa ,
1)dont be hurry to get result
2)amal maaruf nahi mungkar
3)ensure halal income
4)have good heart to love muslim brothers and sister
5)seek Allah swt , good or bad time
6)make connection between ourselves and Allah swt.

The ultimate abode by sheikh Yahya Ibrahim

Jannah : No one has heard of it, no human heart can ever imagine it.

In jannah, grass is zaffron, the youth shall never departed.

Jannah is earned through trial.Allah swt hid jannah with all these :
1)loves the one who does not love him/her
2) restrains your anger

Some questions raised for us to ponder. Those imply our place to jannah.
1) How many juzuk of Al Quran you complete in a week?
2)How many solat have you done apart from solat fardhu?
3)Do you bring comfort to people of people relieve when you depart?
4)Are you source of comfort or source of trial to others?

Creations of smokeless fire by Sheikh Muizz Bukhary

Definition of jannah : hidden garded, no human has witnessed it, heard of it, crossed mind of human being.

Jin : Hidden from human sight, created before mankind from smokeless fire

Types of jin
1)jinni : general
2)(forget the name) :live with people
3)marid : evil, demonic
4)ghilan : disturb you, so call the athan
5)ifrit : fly to the air , take form of black snake

We can see the jin but not in the original form. Oldest individual living on the face of earth is Iblis (Azazil).
Iblis is a jin, not malaikat (angel)
Malaikat doesn't disobey Allah swt command.

Jin produces 9 at one birth

Rasulullah saw recites 3 Qul when he cannot sleep.
Read ayatul qudsi before sleep , and no devil will disturb you until morning.


Creatures of light by Sheikh Karim Abuzaid

1)When a sister loves another sister for the sake of Allah swt. , tell her.

2)If you want your spouse to love you, be obedient to Allah swt. Aishah r.a never jealous to the other wives but to Khadijah r.a.

3)Angels have different sizes. Jibril has 600 wings that block the horizon.

4)Jibril earlobe and shoulder takes 700 years to reach.

5)We cannot see the angels in angelic form unless Rasulullah saw.

6) At Kaabah, angels get only once in a lifetime visa to visit as the others are taking turn too.

7)In creation of Adam a.s , angels do not question His Command


Note : Ok. That's it. Hopefully it benefits us in any way possible.But at remote possibility, if there is any of the info above has some discrepancies, it is totally my bad.


Apart from learning session, there are also bazaar for shopping, yes shopping!

The organizer is also brilliant in their strategy to attract more participants by providing mother's room , and play and pray section. So parents can have some freedom to listen to the talk while the kids are having fun.

Sister's corner was set up for sisters to listen while having some relaxing activities such manicure and other spa services. Well, personally,lecture hall experience is still the best for me.

Some of the knowledge is the basic knowledge that we have known all our live. But then, there is something about the atmosphere, surrounded with people who crave for ilmu which make the feeling of being in the conference become another interesting life experience.

 All in all, I start to fall in love with the conference of this liking ,and I wish I will get the opportunity to join more of it in the future.

Big Bad Wolf 2014

12th Dec 2014

Last year I cudnt make it to this annual exhibition, so this year I determine to go and see it by myself and buy myself the books.

 

Yes, there were a lot of people in the hall, but we still can choose the books at peace. Good thing is that the organizer has also provided basket for the visitors,so it saved us from bring our own trolley bag to buy masses of books at one go.

The price of the books are unbelievably cheap and I took my own sweet time to find my usual fictional books.

 

It was not hard to find the books of my favourite authors, well, I was over the moon. Picked up the books without seeing the price tag. And just to find out the cost is less than RM60 for all these books I chose.

This is heaven for book lovers. Must.come.next.year!

Aging Gracefully with SKII. (Meowww~)

It started about two years back, when I was having severe skin allergic at u-zone of my face. The worse acne allergic were all over my face, but thankfully they were well covered by my hijab.

The process of healing the allergic effect was not found overnight. I went through series of  "try and error" skincare products and just to find out that the efforts went straight to the drain. Hmpphh..

I was  using the other Japan skincare products back then ( I dunno, but  I have certain degree of confidence in using Japan products ), but due to the prolong allergic effects, I started to use all ranges of skincare to cure them  from as cheap as rice soap until I decided to try the priciest skincare I ever known, SKII.

 Until I went to see the doctor, then only I started to find the true cure to my horrible acne attack. It's not that the use of it has solved the entire allergic problem, but boy, I found it hard to stop using it when I started feeling the result of it over time.

When consuming skincare, anti aging stuff or any other beauty products , I have the belief good products show result slower but lifelong, if it is maintained properly.  So nothing much difference that I expected overnight, but wait I until I grow wiser ..( I refuse to use word older here. Kah kah kah)

Good thing I enjoy shopping for this skincare is that they give free mini size of other products for certain amount of purchase...

....Which is just perfect for traveling kit. So you get some stuff you bought along with some gifts. Isn't it fun to shop more? Tee hee...

When reaching Christmas season, the bargain becomes a lot more overwhelming. Using points collected  from previous purchases for the entire year, we will get more free gift for redemption, some of them worth hundred ringgit of face masks, and other fabulous skincare stuff that you won't bother to buy in regular purchase.

I was happened to visit the store to replenish my stuff and apparently I have ended up buying a little more than planned but received a lottttt more gifts than I have expected. Weee hoo~